The Extreme Lazy Man Diet (Version 0.1)

It’s been a busy weekend. We had ALL the regular dogs we sit staying for the weekend. I don’t know why it was so busy, because the big Memorial Day holiday rush is this weekend.

I took yesterday to get a TSA Pre-Check item off my to-do list that’s been there for months. It only took me 2 hours to make sure that I don’t have to wait 30 minutes at the airport. Seems like a good use of $85 if you fly a few times a year, especially with kids like us.

Finally, I’m doing a lot of digital cleaning. My phone bogged down to being almost useless. It seems that around 200 Chrome tabs will do that. A few of the tabs are over a year old. It’s taken quite awhile to get my phone responsive enough to even delete them. It’s getting responsive now with 85 tabs. Next up, I need to clear out old apps. There are some that are 5 years old.

Why all this introduction? Because I’m going with an outside the box personal finance article today. It’s inspired by a friend who is doing some diet research and I thought some of this could help her. I could have told her all this personally, but it’s a lot easier to read. Also, I wanted to have it in place for myself. Keep in mind that maintaining a healthy weight is a great way to reduce the odds of expensive medical bills in the future.

The Extreme Lazy Man Diet (Version 0.1)

I had a thought last year… there are so many types of diets that people claim to work for different reason. Why hasn’t anyone put together a super diet… a diet that encompasses all the different diets? (And why… do I think… and write… in so many ellipses.)

It’s quite possible that someone has put together a diet and that I just haven’t come across it in my reading. Another reason is that this super diet would be extremely hard to stick to. That means it’s almost destined to fail. After all, many of the Biggest Loser contestants gain the weight back. It’s not a sustainable plan.

That’s why this is extreme and also version 0.1. In addition this is one man’s opinion from reading a lot of stuff that he hasn’t taken the time to source very well. That’s another great reason why this is version 0.1. One of the benefits of blogging is that it allows me to organize my own thoughts, evolve them with feedback from others (hint: please comment!), and review them over time. If this sounds good to you, Bluehost is running a 48 hour flash sale on blog hosting. It’s just $2.95 a month. (I will receive a percentage of the sale if you choose to sign-up. I run a couple of small blogs on Bluehost myself.)

This is also completely untested, even by me. I have tested some parts of it in small spans of time. I’ve witnessed other parts work for friends.

Personally, I could probably stand to lose between 10-12 pounds at any time over the last year. I should be doing this through more physical activity. While I can get a number of steps walking my dog every day, it doesn’t get my heart rate up, nor is it provide strength training that I’ve had in the past.

I’ve read that exercise is about 30% of equation and diet is 70% (again uncited). This will attempt to cover that 70% and leave the 30% as an exercise literally for the reader. Maybe in a future article I’ll cover it.

Enough of the set-up, time to get to the substance. Here are the different types of diets I’d steal from and why:

Low-Carb: Atkins, Dukan, or Ketogenic

While Woman’s Health Magazine is probably a great resource, I’m going to keep it simple. I knew a friend who lost a lot of weight on Atkins. However, he went almost entirely carb-free.

For this section, I’ll steal the general best practice of focusing on meals consisting of mostly lean meats. One of my favorite breakfasts is a low-carb, meat-focused omelet.

Low-Glycemic Load

When you are having carbs, it’s best to choose from something that is a low-glycemic load. I’m going leave the science behind the diet for another day. (Wikipedia probably does a decent job).

My choices from this category are carrots, pinto beans, and almonds. Pinto beans are great fiber which is lacking from the rest of this diet. Almonds sneak in because they are the single most nutritious food in the world.

Personally, I’d go with choices from the Volumetrics section (like carrots) that are also low-glycemic and very lightly sprinkle in the almonds and pinto into the diet.

The Daily Shake Meal

I’ve personally lost about 8 pounds by just adding this one shake for a couple of days. I love using my Nutribullet (read my review) for this. It’s really easy to make.

Add heaping tablespoon scoop of Greek yogurt, a scoop of whey protein, and a half teaspoon of corn bran.

You’ve probably never heard of corn bran, but it’s almost all fiber… without the “other carbs.” It tastes like ground dirt, but in this shake it isn’t as noticeable.

Fill up the rest with water and blend. I often have to do it in a couple of phases as it gets thick quickly. The way I make it it is often 40 ounces. That’s a lot of liquid filling up space. It really curbs the appetite.

Volumetrics

I’m not going to steal anything from this diet as it’s mostly covered in other diets. Instead, I’m go to steal something I feel should be in this diet, but doesn’t seem to be.

I’m stealing popcorn. The assumption is that there’s no added butter. The power in this is that you have do a lot of chewing to get through a 100 calories of popcorn. It fills up the plate and you feel like you’ve actually eaten.

Weight-Watchers

I had some friends lose significant weight with Weight Watchers. They’ve kept it too (even after I think they’ve stop strictly adhering to the diet.

If you are familiar with Weight Watchers, there’s a certain number of points available in a day and each food has cost. I remember my friends saying “Food [X] is Free”, which means she could eat as much as wants.

That’s what I’m stealing from Weight Watchers. There are some zero points lists out there, but I’m focusing on stealing the zero points vegetables from old school lists. We already covered the low-carb, high-protein foods.

Intermittent Fasting

Everything above was about how to eat. This is when to eat obviously. I haven’t personally ever tried this. I know a couple of people who swear by it, and even they don’t understand the science.

I realize this isn’t a resounding endorsement of this section, but it adds another dimension. Since I am making an extreme diet here, why not throw the kitchen sink at it.

Paleo-Caveman Diet

I’m not stealing anything directly from this diet… yet. However, I think this diet probably shares most of the philosophies above. Maybe I’ll steal avocado, which doesn’t fit nicely into any particularly good area above, but is undoubtedly healthy and awesome.

Everything Else

Make sure you see a doctor before trying any diet, especially one as crazy as this.

You’ll notice there’s no room for refined carbs and added sugar in this diet. I’m still looking into whether a cheat day or meal helps reset the system or gives you the boost to continue on. It’s something to consider. It looks like there’s a small amount of data on cheat days working

Just to put it all together, here’s what a day of this diet might look like:

I have been able to keep up with most of this diet for a few days with a couple of cheat meals in between. I find that do lose weight fairly quickly. I might be losing muscle mass as well, which would be a problem (and why exercise is important).

As I said before, it’s important to see a doctor and/or nutritionist before you start on anything like this. It’s probably best to just borrow a couple ideas here and there (my favorite is the shake one) and try to integrate into your lifestyle.

I’m hoping at some point, I’ll be able to give this trial for a few days or a week. Currently, my diet too often consists of the leftovers from a 4 or 5 year old. I’m the “cleanup” when they don’t eat something new we are trying, which is quite often.

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Comments

Curious if you’ve added up the calories on your diet. I’ve read articles in the past that show people lose weight on all the diets because they limit calories. So, nothing magic, just trying to find the calorie limiting plan that is most acceptable. Of course as you mentioned, most people will gain back what they lost, plus some, because the diets are realistic on the long term.

I haven’t added up the calories. I believe it IS because the calories are being limited. However, it does turn out that calorie counting is pretty much fool’s errand anyway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv6J5jxi84o.

My thought with this attempt at a diet is to use the glycemic index, ketogenic analysis, and some thoughts on satiety (the volumetrics stuff) all together. It’s hard to eat too many calories when your food of choice is carrots and popcorn.

The intermittent fasting may prevent calories at night getting stored as fat (since there would be few of them).

I already know I left out a ton from the Mediterranean Diet and to mention to drink lots of water (but too much or you could die).

I don’t think anyone sticks to shakes long term, but I bet it could work within your schedule. You are welcome to try to eat with the shake, but my guess is you wouldn’t want to each much… it’s really filling.

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